All you need to do is enter the URL of your competitor’s page. Then, you’ll be greeted with a list of every backlink that points to it. From directories to guest posts, it’s all in here—and ready for you to have a peek through.

If you were using my site as your competitor, here’s what you’d see when using the tool:

The backlink checker details the URL of the backlink, so you can click through and see its position on the page.

It also includes key SEO metrics that will help you decide whether it’s a good or bad backlink, including:

Domain Authority of Backlinks

Another SEO metric to consider when analyzing your competitor’s backlink profile is the percentage of backlinks that fall within each Domain Authority (DA) bracket.

DA is a score, created by Moz, that indicates how well a site would rank in the search engines.

It’s calculated based on the DA score of the sites your backlinks come from. That means if your competitors are virtually hanging around with SEO powerhouses, they’re more likely to become one themselves—and increase their own DA score.

Go through each link and tally up how many fall within these categories:

DA 0-29

DA 30-49

DA 50-69

DA 70+

If your competitor’s backlink profile is 90% made up of high DA backlinks in the 70+ bracket, it’s pretty safe to assume that these are helping them reach the top spots.

Page Authority (PA) Ratio

Similar to DA, you should also look at the Page Authority (PA) of entries in your competitor’s backlink profile.

This tells you the authority of the page that the backlink derives from, rather than the entire domain.

Just like the authority of a domain, the authority of a page is determined by the PA of sites linking to yours.

Why should we look at this?

Well, PA can also give an indication of how well a site will perform in the SERPs.

Break your brackets into the same categories we used for recording DA, and find the average PA of the backlinks pointing to the competitor’s site.

If this is anywhere above 40, add it to your list of reasons for taking pride of place—and add the improvement of Page Authority to your SEO strategy to-dos.

Come from Niche Websites or Big Publications?

It’s usually good to have a diverse backlink profile. It demonstrates that your site isn’t practising black hat SEO techniques, and gives a sense of credibility.

Sense check this by referring back to your competitors.

Where do their backlinks come from? Are the majority from niche websites, or big publications? Or even both?

Niche websites are sites that target specific industries, or discuss one topic. If we wanted to build a backlink to Monitor Backlinks on a niche website, we might target Search Engine Watch.

Large sites are loosely related to the topic you discuss on your own site. For Monitor Backlinks, this might be Forbes.

You may find that on average, each backlink profile has a 50/50 split.

That makes your job relatively easy. For every link that you build on a niche website, build another on a larger publication, and vice versa!

Have Lots of Directory Links?

Oh, the beauty of a directory link.

Their value to SEO has been debated for years, but there’s no questioning they can be valuable to e-commerce websites.

You see, directories don’t just help with brand awareness (although they’re awesome at that, too).

They tell search engine spiders that your website’s reputable, and being recommended elsewhere on the internet.

Now, let’s go back to your competitors.

Do they have directory backlinks? If so, what directories are they coming from?

Your job here is simple: Submit your own listing to each directory that your competitors are listed in.

Because they’re already in a similar industry to you, you know that the directories are worth your while.

It’s really as easy as that!

All Come from One Website?

When you were analyzing each backlink profile, were there any sites that popped up frequently?

Often, big publications offer sponsorship or guest posting opportunities to businesses. You may have just hit the jackpot and discovered one, if you notice that a lot of your competitors have backlinks from one single site.

However, there’s another caveat here: Check the SEO metrics of the site first.

If it’s got a high DA and PA, a low Spam Score and decent site traffic, add it to your list of targets.

Getting a backlink from a site that your competitors work with is a sure-fire way to come for their SERP spots.

Every week, you’ll get a handy email that details every new backlink that’s been built to your competitor’s site. This will allow you to spot any changes in their strategy, so you can consider if you need to alter yours, too.